Chapter 3

“Lily Crow,”he said with a smirk. “I should’ve known the weathermen weren’t talking about rain when they said a storm was coming.” He stepped back out of the way so Blaze could usher her inside. “As far as being happy to see you, I’m still up in the air on that. There aren’t a lot of women I know who can beat Blaze at pool and wreck a bar all in the same week. Looks like you’re still making trouble.”

“What can I say?” She winked. “I’m a woman of many talents.”

“Don’t make me hurt you, Colt,” Blaze said, gritting his teeth so hard he thought they might turn to dust.

Colt and Blaze were cousins and they’d grown up together, but there was more to it than that. Colt was as close to him as any of his brothers. It made no sense. They were only two months apart in age, and Colt had always been the good boy—the teacher’s pet—the nice guy. People didn’t usually say those things about Blaze.

Not because he wasn’t a nice guy—he was—it’s just that people looked at him and tended to walk in another direction. Maybe it was the tattoo sleeves that covered his arms or because he had the look of a man who’d seen too much and done too much. But despite their differences, Colt was his best friend. Colt had been the one he’d called when he’d needed a bullet dug out of his shoulder while he was working undercover, and Colt was the only one who knew that he and Lily were married.

He’d been fortunate after the old sheriff had retired early, and Blaze had been appointed in his place until the next election. The new sheriff’s office bond had already passed, and his cousin Hank had gotten the contract and had it built by the deadline. So Blaze had walked into his job with a new station and the ability to hire all the deputies he needed once the people of Laurel Valley realized the less-populated areas were being used for drug and human trafficking.

The exterior of the station looked like the rest of the town, as if it were part of the mountain landscape itself. It felt strange walking into a building that had planter boxes spilling with color, but the taxpayers of Laurel Valley preferred the building not look like a place where criminals were taken.

The inside looked similar to the lodge on the other side of the lake—wooden beams in the ceiling and polished oak floors. The reception area was empty of people, and there was no one behind the desk.

“Where’s Janet?” Blaze asked.

“Lunch break,” Colt said, the corner of his mouth twitching.

“What about everyone else? Why’s it so quiet in here?”

“Let’s just say everyone decided it was time to do rounds. You know how much safer the community feels when they see police cars driving around.”

Blaze grunted. “I don’t know whether to thank you or punch you.”

“I’m open for either,” Colt said. “It’s been a while since we scrapped. But it would probably make my wife mad if you mess up my face. She likes it.”

“There’s no accounting for taste,” Blaze said.

“I assume if I leave the two of you here together there won’t be bloodshed.”

“Not on my end,” Lily said, walking freely around the room as if the cuffs restraining her were simply an inconvenience. “I always liked you, Colt. You have a much more pleasant disposition than Sheriff Holds-a-Grudge.”

“If you think I’m getting in the middle of that particular fight then you are sadly mistaken,” Colt said.

“Unfortunately,” Blaze said. “You do have an outstanding warrant for your arrest, and you did leave town with a known fugitive in a suspicious manner.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Oh, for Pete’s sake. You know that’s a ridiculous charge. I got my brother out of town and back where he belonged so he could stand trial.”

“And how is your brother?”

“Serving twenty in Rikers.”

Blaze squeezed her arm gently and turned her so she could see his sincerity. “I’m sorry to hear that.” He knew what it must have felt like for her to watch her only relative put away. She’d told him once she’d been close to Jacob before he’d taken a wrong path in the road, and knowing Lily as he did, she probably wondered daily if there was something more she could’ve done to help him.

She shrugged and broke eye contact, and her voice held nothing but resignation. “It’s what he deserved and probably what’s best. Even though we’re on different sides of the coin, you and I both stand for law and order. And we know it doesn’t discriminate against blood. Jacob made his choices. I’m only sorry he involved you guys in his mess.”

“We’ve dealt with it before, and we’ll deal with it again,” Blaze said. “It’s what we do. But just to be safe, I’d stay out of the River Rock Bar while you’re here.”

“Old Jerry still talks about you,” Colt said, grinning. “I’m surprised he doesn’t have your picture on a wanted poster hanging over the bar.”

“Good grief,” she said. “I’ll pay the damages just to not have to hear about it anymore. And if you don’t let me go, you could possibly have a much bigger problem on your hands.”

“She followed a skip into town,” Blaze explained when he saw Colt’s questioning look.

“Lovely,” Colt said. “That’s my cue to leave. I’m going to go home and weather the storm with my wife.” He gave Blaze a long look before he said, “Call me if you need anything.”

“We’ll be fine,” Blaze said. “There’s not much to be done about a skip tonight. Those storms are going to be bad. Hopefully, we won’t lose power. And hopefully everyone stays inside and hunkers down. The last thing I want to do is waste manpower because Charlie Odom’s cows got swept away in high water, or some fool decides it’s romantic to take his girlfriend to Lookout Point so they can make out to the sound of raindrops hitting metal.”

“I take it those are experiences you’ve had in the past?” Lily asked.

“And not ones I want to repeat again,” Blaze said. “But the people in this town are muleheaded and contrary. So we’ll see what the night holds. All of my deputies are on call.”

Colt gave them a two-finger salute and pushed the door open to leave. “You two stay out of trouble.”

The door closed behind Colt and the tension that had started to cool flared and simmered between them in hot waves.

“So tell me, Sheriff.” She watched him out of amused eyes and her chin was tilted in challenge. “Are you going to let me go so I can get a trail on my skip before the tracks are washed away? Or are we going to hunker down for the night and ride out the storm?”

A crack of thunder loud enough to shake the floor beneath them shattered the silence. Her hands were still cuffed behind her back and he took a step closer so he could feel her breath on his lips. She gave a soft sigh and his heart flipped in his chest. Not yet.

“It depends.” His words feathered across her lips and her eyelids fluttered closed.

“On what?” She tilted her head slightly and leaned in, so he felt her words whisper against the corner of his mouth.

“Why didn’t you get an annulment?” he asked, needing to know the answer. “It’s been a year. You could have pretended this never happened.”

“Why didn’t you?” she asked. “You could have done the same.”

“You’re my wife.”

“Just like that?” she asked. “We hardly know each other.”

“We know enough,” he said. “We’ll know more. You’ve haunted my dreams. We had one night together, and you’re imprinted on my brain forever. And now that you’re here—I’m not even sure you’re real. I’m almost afraid to touch you in case you disappear.”

“I wanted to come back,” she said. “So many times. I didn’t know how. I wouldn’t have known what to say. I told myself it was just chemistry. We can both feel it now. It’s electric. But something that powerful tends to explode and then burn out quickly. But a year later I can still feel your lips on mine.”

He dropped his forehead so it rested against hers, but he didn’t put his hands on her. Not yet. “I’ve been so angry with you. And now that I’m standing in front of you all I want to do is put those handcuffs to good use.”

She brought her hands from behind her back, where the cuffs dangled from one wrist and a paper clip stuck out of the lock.

“You mean these cuffs?” she asked.